ibis budget London Whitechapel - Brick Lane — Hotel in London

The Ibis Budget Brick Lane is a solid budget hotel located in the heart of Whitechapel, just 5 minutes away from Whitechapel underground station (District Line/Hammersmith & City Line/Overground). This was my third summer stay in a row in this part of East London, and since the student accomodation I used previously wasn't available, this hotel seemed like the next best budget alternative. I took a "nest room" (twins or doubles avialblable), which is the cheapest option. I booked via the Ibis homepage and thus got a small discount. I recommend that over using any of the third-party booking pages.

My double room was adequate in size (though substantially smaller than e.g. a Premium Inn double), but very much okay for London. The amenities included a decent en-suite shower (more powerful than what you're getting at any of the old fleabags), an acceptable bed (linens were changed only once during my 13-nights stay), a small flatscreen TV (which didn't work, but I wasn't going to use it anyway), and a separate WC. The only major complaint I have is the pronounced lack of storage space: no closet, just a row of hangers; a very tiny desk, and very little space around the washbasin; no chair. I ended up having to use parts of the floor as storage. But it was all very clean, and the room service efficient.

Note that my room on the 7th floor did have air conditioning, which came in handy during the first few days.

Check-in (which you can conveniently do online) was swift and easy, the young-ish staff friendly. The reception is next to the "breakfast area" on the first floor - this part looks more like a hostel than a hotel. I didn't try the breakfast during my stay, but it looked pretty basic, too. Upon check-out, I had to pay a UKP 2 fee for them to keep my luggage until I had to go to the airport; that's still way cheaper than using Left Luggage at any of the train stations (the nearest being Liverpool Street).

Whitechapel is a rather colourful area (Don't visit if you have a problem with Muslims) with many small eateries and a decent number of pubs. If you're into real ale, you're in luck: An excellent (if slightly seedy) real ale pub, the Indo, is located just opposite of the hotel. Ideal for a last beer before turning in for the night.

From Whitechapel Station you can easily reach many parts of central London without having to change trains (the District Line covers a large area) and within reasonable time (about 20 minutes to Westminster/Houses of Parliament).

All in all, a solid budget option. Would...

Staff were very helpful and always on point..breakfast was a nice start to the day. Coffee and juice could be better quality though. Location was great for tubes yo literally anywhere with both aldgate east and whitechapel stations very close...rooms are nice and clean but very very small for 3 people (there wasn't even enough space to put pur 3 suitcases on the floor) ..that's how small they are! Housekeeping came every day to change towels and empty the rubbish from the bathroom bin (no bin in living area) we stayed there for 11 nights and not once did we get our bedding changed...ewww! ||||Now the biggest issue with the hotel is the lifts (we got trapped in the lift for around 15 mins) ...you need to use your key card to activate/unlock the lift so you can choose what floor you want (we stayed for 11 nights as stated) during this time our key card didn't work for the lifts or the room door numerous times ...we found ourselves not able to use the lift or open our room door and having to go back to reception 4 or 5 times during the 11 nights...which after a long day out in london was frustrating! (We told them each time about this and thst it needed addressing) their response was that maintenance will come to check it but norhing was ever done during our stay! On one occasion we manged to get in the lift but selected the wrong floor by mistake so the lift stopped at the wrong floor and we waited for the doors to close again before trying to select the correct floor ..upon the doors closing we presented our card to the reader only for it to flash red and not be accepted with the doors closed and the lift screen saying locked! WE WERE TRAPPED IN THE LIFT! (me, my wife and our 7 year old daughter) we couldn't open the doors since our card was being declined by the reader in the lift and it was saying locked ...we tried calling the hotel but no answer...I didn't want to call the fire brigade or police so we decided to try and stay calm and just to stay in the lift and wait it out until someone on the ground floor calls the lift and it would go back down and the doors would open (this took around 15 mins I reckon) not a very nice experience at all especially with a 7 year old child who was petrified and shaken up by the whole thing! ||||Would i stay at the ibis hotel again ..nope, not a chance! But I would definitely stay at whitechapel area again..it was lovely and the people there are very welcoming and friendly....just choose a...

Great comfortable accommodation, amazing quality breakfast, was able to get pizza very late at night from hotel itself. Good size disabled accessible rooms, however the wheelchair lift to get up to the lifts (as reception is on first floor and there are a short flight of steps to get to the lifts), wasn't always working and was awkward sometimes as you had to let reception know you needed the lift by the intercom on the outside door. There is no intercom inside by the wheelchair lift itself which would have improved things if there was. Overall other than that everything else was very good! Very modern and bright looking decor. Very comfortable beds. Air conditioning was amazing during the heatwave. Very comfortable hotel. Staff were very friendly and helpful. Good prices. I think the quality of Windows are good as I didnt hear any outside noise at any time but maybe that's because I slept so well with the comfortable beds. Loved the funky shaped mirror in the bathroom with bright lights helpful for applying make up or anything like shaving or whatever you need a mirror for. Lighting inside the rooms wasn't as bright as I would have liked but I liked the position adjustable lights by the bed. Great sockets have both normal sockets and USB port in them. I felt we got slightly more for our money than I expected. Great TV. Probably about 30 mins walk at a slow rate if not a little longer from the Tower of London. However there is a tube station a little walk down the street. A post office is a little walk up the street as is the fire station and hospital with an A&E department. Mosque is next door. Bus stop right outside. Overall very happy. The only thing is if you have low or no mobility and will rely on buses only its sometimes a few changes on the buses to get to main attractions, if using taxi it's fine and tube might be a lot easier, however I don't know as I didnt use it. But location didn't matter as much to us as the price of the rooms. Which was probably the cheapest if not one of the cheapest hotels in London. That doesn't mean less quality though I was very happy with the quality of the hotel and our whole stay. Would stay again or at very least use other Ibis budget or other...